WORSHIP ( ❥ ) DREAMNOBLADE [Reupload]

21. | CATHARSIS

Days like these were ones that Dave always cherished, remembering every detail of the moments he spent with his loved ones. At the end of the day, they'd all—aside from him and Clay—be sleeping in beds miles upon miles apart, but it didn't matter to any of them. No matter how mundane it was, like just playing Monopoly, or how exciting, like when Wilbur tried starting a house fire in a magic-proofed house, Dave would never live any of it down. He wondered if it mattered as much to the rest of them—if they also took note of even the tiniest things whenever they were truly happy.

"Alright, lemme just check something here," Tommy said, "Because according to the screen right now, Tubbo is in first place now?"

"He's just following his instincts, I guess. Maybe he's a businessman at heart," Clay laughed.

"I've been selling copious amounts of drugs! That's where all the money's come from. Laws are for broke people—you know they call me Big Crime on the streets, after all."

"Where do the drugs come from?" Wilbur asked.

"Oh, Jesus-" Phil held his head in his hands.

"Judith supplies them, she's my partner in crime."

Tommy's jaw went slack with offense, "I was replaced by a mantis?! And a woman?!"

The mantis can't snitch," Clay asserted.

Dave nodded, "He's got a point."

"We came here today to have a good time playing Monopoly-" Tommy began.

"Dad, make the child stop," Wilbur pleaded as Tommy continued complaining, "My ears burn, it's like if I was crunching sand between my teeth."

After Tommy started to rant, with seemingly no end in sight, all of them descended into chaos too.

They weren't even really playing the game anymore.

This was what family really meant.

~~~

"I think I might've passed away during that," Wilbur said quietly, eyes drained of all life at this point, "I'm but a husk of my former self..."

They all mutually decided to just quit but Tubbo was still in the lead at that point and therefore technically the winner.

"...No fire?" Dave checked quietly.

Wilbur groaned, "I don't have the energy."

Phil stretched his arms above his head, joints popping, "All in favor of never, ever playing Monopoly again?"

Every single one of them chimed in—even Tubbo.

"You all wanna stay for dinner?" Dave asked somewhat timidly, used to most of them needing to get home and do something. It was a Friday, so he knew that Tommy and Tubbo didn't have school the next day at least.

"I can stay," Wilbur said first.

Tommy stuck close to his older brother, "Me too."

"I'll text my mom!" Tubbo went next.

All they needed was Phil.

"I'm fuckin' starving," the oldest of them all uttered.

"Go ahead into the dinin' room then, I'll be there after I clean up."

After the other four had left, Clay lowered his voice, "You've been keeping Tubbo's mantis alive with magic, haven't you?"

"Maybe..." the pig blushed.

Clay laughed, "You're cute."

"I-I'm-! Not cute, I... He likes it, so I want him to have it for longer, that's all."